Google’s September 2026 Spam Update: Why Cheap AI Content Is Now a Liability.

Nick Petty

Google is at it again. Its September spam update is its fourth in just seven months, following updates in March, June, and August.

Why are the spam updates coming so quickly? The short answer is the continued expansion of AI-generated content.

Google is waging war on half-hearted AI website content and, by sharpening its rules on AI, has drawn a line in the proverbial sand.

In this article, we explain what’s changed and what you need to do about it.

The updates keep coming – but why?

The gaps between updates are getting shorter. There were 92 days between the March and June updates, 55 between June and August, and just 37 between August and September.

At a recent Google Search Central event in Europe, Google explained why. Far more new content is being published than ever before, and a large share of it is spam.

To give a sense of scale, Google says it filters out around 40 billion spam pages every single day. Think hundreds of near-identical location pages, or blog posts generated by an AI tool and published without anyone checking them

So now Google is fighting back, and it’s struck up an unlikely alliance (well, not that unlikely) to do so.

As the adage goes: if you’re going to catch a crook, you’ve got to think like a crook.

Google is using AI to catch AI, and doing so in droves.

What has changed?

On 1st October, Google updated its official guidance on AI-generated content to say that all of it should be ‘manually fact-checked and reviewed for accuracy’.

Google is once again stressing the need for human input in content creation, even if the content isn’t entirely human-created in the first place.

Whether content is hand-written and manually typed out or artificially generated within seconds, it should always serve a purpose beyond its own existence. It should have intent and an audience. It should have a ‘why’ not just a ‘what’.

What does this mean for your business?

If you’re a roofer, plumber, driveway installer or any other local trade, this matters more than you might think.

In recent years, plenty of businesses have been sold cheap “SEO packages” that promise dozens of new pages a month. The truth is, it’s impossible to keep up with these promises without AI, and often the pages end up generic and stuffed with keywords.

Not so long ago, that might have nudged you up the rankings, but as with all underhanded SEO tactics, it’s quickly getting stamped out. If your SEO strategy is on the wrong side of respectable, you might find some of your high-performing pages tumbling down the search rankings, taking your traffic and customers with them.

What should you do now?

Like most updates, this one targets those trying to scam the web, so if you or your agency have produced legitimate content over the past couple of years, you’ve got little to worry about. If you know you’ve been producing generic AI content, you need to take action.

Do a quick health check and make a few updates. Here’s where to start.

Look for copy-and-paste pages. If your location pages read the same apart from the town name, they need rewriting or merging.
Show real work. Photos of finished jobs, genuine customer reviews and details only you would know are things AI can’t fake and appeal to Google.
Check anything AI has written. If you or your agency use AI tools, make sure a real person reads and fact-checks every page before it goes live.
Quality over quantity. One helpful page about your service beats ten thin ones.
Ask questions. If your agency is adding pages every month, ask who writes them and how they’re checked.

Google Spam Update September 2026: Final Thoughts

It’s more of the same from Google. With AI content flooding the web, Google keeps tightening the screws.

Worried your site could be affected? Our team writes every page for your trade and your area, and we track your calls so you can see it’s working. Get in touch, and we’ll show you how we can get your phone ringing and grow your business.

Worried about all these Google updates?

Then we can help clear the fog.

Book a call with one of our team to understand how we can help your business weather the changes and get found online.